Chinese Democracy Activists Must Push Movement Beyond Street Politics

December 24, 1998|BY XU WENLI

The aspiration for democracy never ceased to exist in China even after 1949, when the Chinese communists took power. The Advice and Petition in 1957, the April 5th Movement in 1976 and the Democracy Wall Movement that began in 1978 were all crucial stages. We, the democracy activists who experienced our formative years during the Democracy Wall movement, can work closely with the younger generation of activists and with the Chinese people to ensure that the democratic torch is passed to the future.

In today's China, after two decades of economic reform, the ruling party has generated some impressive results in the material facilities for the people. Except in some remote and poor areas, the living standard of most people has improved.

However, the polarization within society is becoming increasingly evident -- there are billionaires living alongside the destitute. There is also growing public resentment against the regime for instituting massive layoffs. China's appalling human-rights record also has been censured internationally.

The problems in the economic areas and those in political areas do not occur as separate entities, but influence one another. For instance, the layoff problem in China is not only economic, but political, because it has resulted from the overstaffed working units of the past planning economy and from the "iron rice bowl" system in socialism. This cannot be resolved by mere economic means, but must be solved within political areas. Therefore, political reform must be instituted. Besides, if the layoff problems cannot be solved, they will have political consequences as well.

Thus, even the Chinese Communist Party cannot deny the necessity of political reform, though the CCP's political reform measures are either ill-conceived or getting nowhere. I think China's political reform should be a gradual process, for in modern Chinese history there have been many radical, revolutionary storms inflicting much pain on people but achieving little in terms of people's democratic rights.

Now, people hope that political activism will not revisit those chaotic times by inciting any unnecessary social movements. In fact, the Chinese people do not want to see any disorder; instead they want a stable and gradual reform process.

Actions should not be covert, but should be open and in conformance with the Chinese constitution. The tactics of so-called street politics or demonstrations should be minimized or be used with great caution. This is not to say that the demonstrations that took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989 were wrong. The Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement was the greatest people's democracy movement in Chinese history. In this sense, it was necessary and right.

We can see that there are often demonstrations and protests in the Western democratic countries. We can even see that the truck drivers in France place roadblocks on the highway and conduct strikes right there. Thus, "street politics" and parliamentarianism are not necessarily in conflict. The form of action depends on the situation.

But in order to form a democratic society, we must gradually shift from a "street politics" approach to parliamentarianism.

At this moment, the most important platform for China's democracy movement is the human-rights issue. Under the CCP, China has a terrible record on human rights. Therefore, this issue must be stressed in the overall move to bring democracy to China.

We should fight for the early release of prisoners of conscience, including those in Tibet and Xinjiang regions. Sun Weibang had been jailed after participating in the Democracy Wall movement; after the Tiananmen movement, he was sentenced to 12 years as a result of an unfair trial and is serving his term.

Religious prisoners often are neglected by the people. In fact, this problem is serious. These prisoners were sentenced for "counterrevolutionary offenses" for their ordinary religious activities. Now, the "counterrevolutionary" offenses have been abolished, but this has not resulted in any review of these cases. All these political prisoners should be released.

China is no different from any other country in terms of human rights. All nations are made up of human beings, and China's leadership should follow the same standards in protecting the rights of its citizens.

Xu Wenli this week was given a 13-year sentence after a three-hour trial for ''plotting to overthrow state power'' in seeking to establish the China Democracy Party. This article is excerpted for The Washington Post from one he wrote for the China Strategic Institute in Washington.